


epiphany on ice

by gamesetmatch



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, OT3, Three Anglers CE, icefishing together in the middle of nowhere, long-suffering cu, snippet from CCC, very Fluffy as all hell, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 10:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16596155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gamesetmatch/pseuds/gamesetmatch
Summary: In which three old friends go on a fun ice-fishing holiday.Theyarefriends, right?





	epiphany on ice

**Author's Note:**

> I had to do this because of [this amazing CE](http://fate-go.cirnopedia.org/craft_essence_profile.php?essence=905)!!
> 
> I love these idiots

“Rods of Babylon! FUHAHAHA!"

“You’re not winning this round, King of Cheats! So as I fish… Unlimited Bait Works!”

Several meters of ice away, chaos unfolded as numerous fishing rods pierced the water and were reeled at rapid speeds. Fish flew out from the holes in all directions and Cu leaned his head this way and that to dodge the fish pelting down from the sky.

They were ice fishing in Russia. Cu had, after realizing that he would get neither peace nor quiet if he went fishing at any of Fuyuki’s piers, saved for weeks to buy a plane ticket to Russia. It was going to be a week of nothing but ice fishing in the middle of nowhere. Alone. In peace and quiet.

He boarded the jet, settled into his seat, placed headphones over his ears, and closed his eyes. The takeoff had been smooth, and only after he’d gotten up midflight to use the washroom did he see two familiar faces.

They both wore sunglasses and an ushanka hat concealed most of Gilgamesh’s blond hair, but that was still unmistakably Gilgamesh. And Archer Emiya with crossed arms in the seat beside him. They were both bickering about something or other.

Emiya noticed him first, and shot him a lazy and condescending smirk. There had been no surprise in those eyes. He _knew_ Cu was on this plane. _They knew._

A beat later, Gilgamesh looked over at what had occupied Emiya’s attention and waved enthusiastically, confirming his suspicions.

Cu understood immediately. These fuckers were here to mess with him. Solely to mess with him, because it was a fun pastime to both of them and to that end they would even join forces.

So, fast forward to now, on day one of Cu’s much-looked-forward-to vacation, the two of them were stirring up as much chaos as they could, their voices loud and echoing across the otherwise stillness of this world.

Cu recalled with certain vividness this exact scene happening before. Figures that they would never let him fish in peace. Why did he even try?

A pleasant smell wafted over to him. Cu looked over to see that a spitfire had someone been set up and now the two demons were roasting the fish they had gathered.

Cu still hadn’t caught anything. His stomach rumbled.

“Dog, come and fetch,” the gold asshole called out to him with a skewered fish in his hand.

“Don’t waste food. I’m not cooking you more if you toss that.”

Gilgamesh turned to glower at Emiya. “Most of that is _my_ fish.”

“And? _All_ of this is my cooking,” Emiya shot back just as testily.

Cu sighed. Before the situation could escalate, like having a goddamned battle that would surely crack the ice they were on and send Cu spiraling into the icy depths because that was the definite outcome of Cu-ranked luck, he walked towards them, muttering, “I need better friends.”

Gilgamesh did drop the fish. As did Emiya, who dropped his stick into the fire and completely charred one, so there was that.

_“We are not friends!”_

Wow. Cu had never seen them more in sync.

They marched to him with blazing eyes and began to fire all sorts of protests in unison:

“Who is your friend, mutt?”

“This Goldie is clearly incapable of having friends. And there’s no way I’m yours either—”

“Don’t make me laugh—mongrels—”

“—Right? Where does this delusion come from?”

“I have only ever had one friend—”

“I only came here to steal all of your fish, we are _bitter enemies to the death_ —”

“—Exactly, I killed you in one route, _you_ killed me in another route—”

“—And I would do it again, you deserved it—”

“—As if you could—”

Amidst the chorus of denials, Cu couldn’t help but get ticked off too. He reached with his gloved hands to shoved them both back and, taking advantage of the element of surprise that stopped their words, inhaled sharply and proceeded to spell it all out for his idiotic company. “Right. Okay. So. We hang out together, play volleyball together, you followed me to goddamned Russia to hang out some more, we fish together, we are literally having a barbecue right now, what is this if not _called being friends?_ ”

 

* * *

  


 

“Fool.

Living together, conversing together, fighting together―――

That is neither a person nor a tool. That is called a friend, ■▚▅▮▀▚.”

  
  


 

* * *

 

“Aah, that’s right.”

The admission was said so softly that they almost missed it.

“And we’ve also raced to—wait, I’m right?” Cu, in the middle of listing more of the activities they’d done together over the years, stopped and stared at Gilgamesh incredulously. Yeah, he knew he was right, but he’d expected more of a fight _especially_ on the gold bastard’s end.

“He is _not_ right,” Archer huffed, but eyed him curiously as well.

They watched as a smile of derision adorned Gilgamesh’s face. He squatted on the ice and turned away. “It seems I have no right to utter that word anymore. I’ve forgotten what it means.”

Though the tone was biting, Cu thought that his figure on the ice suddenly looked very sad.

As he hesitated, there was a bright red—from a coat—that moved forward from his side.

“Tch. That’s fine, isn’t it? If you’ve forgotten something, just learn it again.” Emiya said gruffly. With stiff steps, he picked up the stick in the forgotten fire and stamped it out, also refusing to look in either of their directions.

Cu tried. He did. But he could not contain the chortle that slipped past his throat. “I didn’t know you had it in you for such a wise line, Archer.”

He heard Gilgamesh laugh too, a sound he didn’t find as obnoxious as usual. He'd stood up and was rummaging through the box where they’d pile their fish.

Now it was Emiya’s turn to be grouchy. “Shut it. Move aside, I’m starting a new fire. This one is dead because someone started saying ridiculous things.”

“Fuhaha, I want to eat this kind of fish next.”

“I didn’t say I’m taking orders!”

Having said that, he did take the suggested fish.

Despite the freezing winds of the ice field, none of them felt it was very cold. But the warmth in this moment was something they would remember originating not at all from the fish they ate or the fire that crackled comfortably in their midst.

His shitty friends were absolute idiots, which again proved his point about needing better friends. Baby steps, he supposed. Because Cu was the only one here who didn’t have the emotional intelligence of an eight year old, it fell on him to bring them around. One day Cu would make them stop tiptoeing around this word.

Friendship.

He grouched and grumbled about it some more, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad vacation.

  
  



End file.
